There are currently available a number of drugs which are useful in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia. No drug has yet been found, however, which is totally effective in the treatment of all types of arrhythmia. While drugs such as quinidine, procainamide, lidocaine, and digitalis, have found wide-spread success as antiarrhythmic agents, great care must be exercised in their use, due to the undesirable side effects sometimes caused by their continued use. Additionally, subjects suffering from arrhythmia sometimes become refractory to these known treatments. Consequently, additional antiarrhythmic agents are needed.
Extensive interest has recently been generated in preparing new antiarrhythmic agents as improved synthetic substitutes for the above-named drugs. Of particular importance among the new antiarrhythmic agents are the alkylenediamines described in Canadian Pat. No. 910,907.
This invention provides diarylbutanolamines which are especially useful as antiarrhythmic agents. A limited number of diarylalkanolamines are known in the prior art. For example, Blank et al., J. Med. Chem. 271-276(1969), described a variety of diphenylalkylamines, as well as a group of 3,3-diphenyl-3-hydroxypropylamines, all of which were useful as adrenocortical inhibitors. Similarly, Moffett, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,091, described a group of 1,1-diphenyl-2-methyl-3-(3,5-dimethylmorpholino) propanols, useful as anticonvulsants. Propranolol, 1-(isopropylamino)-3-(1-naphthyloxy)-2-propanol, has been used extensively in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia. Recently, 4,4-diphenyl-2-hydroxybutylamines have been prepared and evaluated as antidepressive and spasmolytic agents, Dutch Pat. No. 2,328,758.